Pinbuster,
I freely admit that part of this is to help create area where there is none. But that is only part of it. The other part is to break the lanes down in a controlled fashion, and that is the part people seem to overlook. If you have 5 or 10 guys just playing everywhere, the lanes breakdown randomly based on where they are throwing. People playing right of others get oil pushed into their line, and when they try to move in, they have areas that were broken down by the other bowlers and it makes it much harder to get a good read on moves and adjustments. If everyone plays together, then when you move in you know where the oil is and where the dry is, and you can make calculated adjustments/ball choices based on that. Instead of having to guess cause there were people playing differently all over the right side of the lane.
And again, I think you are taking too much away from the actual execution of the shot. You will gain a small amout of room at the arrows with a strategy like this. Not a lot. And you still have to be consistent in hitting your breakpoint and with your speed. Scoring well at the USBC OC is still about who makes the best shots, even when they use this strategy. I can't fathom why everyone thinks this just opens it up for anyone to score well and that execution doesn't mean anything. That is totally incorrect. If anything it adds an element to the execution. Not only do you have to execute well physically on the lanes, you have execute well mentally before you bowl to make sure you have a solid plan in place based on the shot given (playing the right line in practice, not using too heavily sanded equipment, etc).
ON EDIT: Also, the teams that have resources to bowl on the shot for months in advance, and have the ball contracts, have had those same advantages for decades. Why is it an issue now? The booths are very glad to tell everyone what new balls are working well, since they want you to buy one from them. That is not an advantage to anyone, well maybe the people who have the money to get the ball, but a good majority of them aren't on the top of the leaderboard. Most of those people have had the balls they used with them for some time, so they know how it fits with the rest of their equipment, know how to adjust with, and know what ball to use next.